Yoo switches focus to rentals

Branding, design and investment firm Yoo announced it is going to focus more heavily on rental projects due to the changing housing market and success of Dwell95, Yoo’s first rental building at 95 Wall Street. “With Dwell95 we realized that many people are looking for condo-like living with a high-design, hotel atmosphere, so we decided it was time to expand our reach and move more aggressively into the rental market,” said John Hitchcox, chairman and co-founder of Yoo, in a statement. Hitchcox said Dwell95 was its rental prototype, and that the firm’s goal now is to partner with residential rental developers around the world. Yoo was founded in 1999 by famous designer Philippe Starck and Hitchcox, whose condo projects in Manhattan include Downtown by Philippe Starck, at 15 Broad Street, and Jade, at 16 West 19th Street. The January issue of The Real Deal looked at brokers who are switching from the sales to rental market as home values fall and rentals become more in demand. TRD